Fishers of Men

Today I took my son fishing. We had a great time fishing, but a horrible time catching. In fishing, it’s ok if you don’t do any catching, it’s still fun and rewarding.

Right next to us, though, was a woman who caught three fish as we sat next to her; and already had one on her string. We were using the same bait as her earlier in a spot about 50 yards away yet hadn’t even recieved a single bite. She was calm and patient- not getting anxious and reeling in her line to recast it every several minutes. She let the bait do it’s job and once it did, set the hook and reeled in the fish. Once she had the fish off of the hook and onto her string of fish, she efficiently put on more bait and had it in the water in no time.

This brought to mind for me Jesus’ statement to His disciples at their calling;” Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” Being a fisher of men can be much more rewarding than being a fisher of fish, but unlike regular fishing, it’s not the fishing that’s rewarding, it’s the catching. When a human being is at stake, putting in lots of time and effort into leading them to Christ is really not enjoyable or rewarding at all unless they actually commit their lives to Jesus. If they do not commit their lives to Christ, they will spend a torturous eternity apart from Him and there is nothing enjoyable or redeemable about that fact.

We can’t assume that just any location, tactic, or bait will be succesful. We can’t become inpatient and reel in the bait every several minutes in order to try something new. We have to see that it (the bait) is powerful and let it do it’s work in a particular location.

We also have to study the location to see if it will be fruitful, and be wise in tactic and bait selection in order to do some catching. This will all take careful study and integration within the culture. And if the fish do not recieve what you are offering, and if you are using the best bait and tactics available for that location; you might need to dust off your feet and move on to another fishing hole.

And while taking your son out for a day of fishing is optional; daily being a fisher of men is not- because Followers Fish!

One Responseto “Fishers of Men”

1. Connie Firmin says:

   May 18, 2010 at 6:54 pm

   Kinda reminds me of the saying “You don’t find ministry. Ministry finds you.” It’s like those fish finding the bait. You’re in their environment. If it’s the right bait, they’ll find you. Good post!